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iFrom the Beginning of Time

Writing and City Life

early societies

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2 THEMES IN WORLD HISTORY

IN this section, we will read about two themes relating toearly societies. The first is about the beginnings of humanexistence, from the remote past, millions of years ago. You will

learn how humans first emerged in Africa and how archaeologistshave studied these early phases of history from remains of bones andstone tools.

Archaeologists have made attempts to reconstruct the lives of earlypeople – to find out about the shelters in which they lived, the foodthey ate by gathering plant produce and hunting animals, and theways in which they expressed themselves. Other importantdevelopments include the use of fire and of language. And, finally, youwill see whether the lives of people who live by hunting and gatheringtoday can help us to understand the past.

The second theme deals with some of the earliest cities – those ofMesopotamia, present-day Iraq. These cities developed around temples,and were centres of long-distance trade. Archaeological evidence –remains of old settlements – and an abundance of written material areused to reconstruct the lives of the different people who lived there –craftspeople, scribes, labourers, priests, kings and queens. You willnotice how pastoral people played an important role in some of thesetowns. A question to think about is whether the many activities thatwent on in cities would have been possible if writing had not developed.

You may wonder as to how people who for millions of years hadlived in forests, in caves or temporary shelters began to eventually livein villages and cities. Well, the story is a long one and is related toseveral developments that took place at least 5,000 years before theestablishment of the first cities.

One of the most far-reaching changes was the gradual shift fromnomadic life to settled agriculture, which began around 10,000 yearsago. As you will see in Theme 1, prior to the adoption of agriculture,people had gathered plant produce as a source of food. Slowly, theylearnt more about different kinds of plants – where they grew, theseasons when they bore fruit and so on. From this, they learnt to

early societies

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grow plants. In West Asia, wheat and barley, peas and various kinds ofpulses were grown. In East and Southeast Asia, the crops that greweasily were millet and rice. Millet was also grown in Africa. Around thesame time, people learnt how to domesticate animals such as sheep,goat, cattle, pig and donkey. Plant fibres such as cotton and flax, andanimal fibres such as wool were now woven into cloth. Somewhatlater, about 5,000 years ago, domesticated animals such as cattle anddonkeys were harnessed to ploughs and carts.

These developments led to other changes as well. When people grewcrops, they had to stay in the same place till the crops ripened. So,settled life became more common. And with that, people built morepermanent structures in which to live.

This was also the time when some communities learnt how to makeearthen pots. These were used to store grain and other produce, andto prepare and cook a variety of foods made from the new grains thatwere cultivated. In fact, a great deal of attention was given to processingfoods to make them tasty and digestible.

The way stone tools were made also changed. While earlier methodsof making tools continued, some tools and equipment were nowsmoothened and polished by an elaborate process of grinding. Newequipment included mortars and pestles for preparing grain, as well asstone axes and hoes, which were used to clear land for cultivation, aswell as for digging the earth to sow seeds.

In some areas, people learnt to tap the ores of metals such as copperand tin. Sometimes, copper ores were collected and used for theirdistinctive bluish-green colour. This prepared the way for the moreextensive use of metal for jewellery and for tools subsequently.

There was also a growing familiarity with other kinds of producefrom distant lands (and seas). This included wood, stones, includingprecious and semi-precious stones, metals and shell, and hardenedvolcanic lava. Clearly, people were going from place to place, carryinggoods and ideas with them.

With increasing trade, the growth of villages and towns, and themovements of people, in place of the small communities of early peoplethere now grew small states. While these changes took place slowly,over several thousand years, the pace quickened with the growth ofthe first cities. Also, the changes had far-reaching consequences.Some scholars have described this as a revolution, as the lives ofpeople were probably transformed beyond recognition. Look out forcontinuities and changes as you explore these two contrasting themesin early history.

Remember too, that we have selected only some examples of earlysocieties for detailed study. There were other kinds of early societies,including farming communities and pastoral peoples. And there wereother peoples who were hunter-gatherers as well as city dwellers, apartfrom the examples selected.

EARLY SOCIETIES

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This timeline focuses on theemergence of humans and the

domestication of plants and animals.It highlights some major technologicaldevelopments such as the use of fire,metals, plough agriculture and the

wheel. Other processes that are showninclude the emergence of cities and the

use of writing. You will also findmention of some of the earliestempires – a theme that will be

developed in timeline II.

How to Read Timelines

You will find a timeline like thisone in every section.Each of these will indicate some ofthe major processes and events inworld history.

As you study the time lines,remember—

• Processes through whichordinary women and men haveshaped history are far moredifficult to date than eventssuch as a war between kings.

• Some dates may indicate thebeginning of a process, or whenit reaches maturation.

• Historians are constantlyrevising dates in the light ofnew evidence, or new ways ofassessing old data.

• While we have dividedthe timelines on a geographicalbasis as a matter ofconvenience, historicaldevelopments often transcendthese divisions.

• Also, there is a chronologicaloverlap in historical processes.

• Only some landmarks in humanhistory have been shownhere – we have highlighted theprocesses dealt with in thethemes that follow, which alsohave separate timelines.

• Wherever you see a *, you willalso find an illustration relatedto the date along the column.

• Remember that blank spacesdo not mean that nothing washappening – sometimes theseindicate that we do not as yetknow what was happening.

• You will be learning moreabout South Asian history ingeneral and Indian history inparticular next year. The datesselected for South Asiaare only indicative of someof the developments in thesubcontinent.

Timeline i

(6 MYA TO 1 BCE)

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DATES

6mya-500,000 BP

500,000-150,000 BP

150,000-50,000 BP

50,000-30,00030,000-10,000

8000-7000 BCE

7000-60006000-50005000-40004000-3000

3000-2000

2000-1900

1900-18001800-17001700-16001600-15001500-14001400-13001300-12001200-11001100-10001000-900900-800

800-700700-600600-500

500-400

400-300

300-200200-100100-1 BCE

AFRICA

Australopithecus fossils (5.6 mya)Evidence of use of fire (1.4 mya)Homo sapiens fossils (195,000 BP)

Paintings in caves/rock shelters (27,500)

Domestication of cattle, dogs

Domestication of donkey, cultivation ofmillet, use of copperPlough agriculture, first kingdoms, cities,pyramids, calendar, hieroglyphic script*,writing on papyrus (Egypt)

Use of glass bottles (Egypt)

City of Carthage established in NorthAfrica by the Phoenicians from West Asia;growing trade around the MediterraneanUse of iron (Sudan)Use of iron (Egypt)

Persians invade Egypt

Establishment of Alexandria, Egypt (332BCE), which becomes a major centre oflearning

EUROPE

Evidence of use of fire (400,000 BP)

Homo sapiens fossils (40,000)Paintings in caves/rock shelters(especially France and Spain)

Cultivation of wheat and barley (Greece)

Use of copper (Crete)

Domestication of horse (eastern Europe)

Cities, palaces, use of bronze, the potter’swheel, development of trade (Crete)

Development of a script (Crete)*

Use of iron

First Olympic games (Greece, 776 BCE)

Use of coins* (Greece);establishment ofthe Roman republic (510 BCE)Establishment of a ‘democracy’ in Athens(Greece)Alexander of Macedonia conquers Egyptand parts of West Asia (336-323 BCE)

TIMELINE-I

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DATES

6mya-500,000 BP

500,000-150,000 BP

150,000-50,000 BP

50,000-30,000 BP

30,000-10,000 BP

8000-7000 BCE

7000-6000

6000-5000

5000-4000

4000-3000

3000-2000

2000-19001900-18001800-17001700-16001600-1500

1500-14001400-13001300-12001200-1100

1100-10001000-900900-800800-700700-600600-500

500-400400-300

300-200

200-100100-1 BCE

ASIA

Evidence of use of fire (700,000 BP,China)

Homo sapiens fossils (100,000 BP, WestAsia)

Domestication of dog (14,000, West Asia)

Domestication of sheep and goat,cultivation of wheat and barley (West Asia)Domestication of pig and cattle (Westand East Asia)Domestication of chicken, cultivation ofmillet and yam (East Asia)Cultivation of cotton (South Asia); use ofcopper (West Asia)Use of the potter’s wheel, wheel fortransport (3600 BCE), writing (3200 BCE,Mesopotamia), bronzePlough agriculture, cities (Mesopotamia); silk-making (China); domestication of the horse(Central Asia); cultivation of rice (Southeast Asia)Domestication of water-buffalo (East Asia)

Cities, writing, kingdoms (Shangdynasty), use of bronze (China)*Use of iron (West Asia)

Domestication of the one-humped camel (Arabia)

Use of coins (Turkey); Persian empire (546BCE) with capital at Persepolis; Chinesephilosopher Confucius (c. 551 BCE)

Establishment of an empire in China (221BCE), beginning of the construction of theGreat Wall

SOUTH ASIA

Stone age site in Riwat (1,900,000 BP,Pakistan)

Cave paintings at Bhimbetka (MadhyaPradesh); Homo sapiens fossils (25,500BP, Sri Lanka)

Early agricultural settlements (Baluchistan)

Use of copper

Cities of the Harappan civilisation, use ofscript* (c.2700 BCE)

Composition of the Rgveda

Use of iron, megaliths (Deccan and SouthIndia)

Cities and states in several areas, firstcoins, spread of Jainism and Buddhism

Establishment of the Mauryan empire(c. 321 BCE)

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DATES

6mya-500,000 BP

500,000-150,000 BP

150,000-50,000 BP

50,000-30,000 BP

30,000-10,000 BP

8000-7000 BCE

7000-6000

6000-5000

5000-4000

4000-3000

3000-2000

2000-1900

1900-1800

1800-1700

1700-1600

1600-1500

1500-1400

1400-1300

1300-1200

1200-1100

1100-1000

1000-900

900-800

800-700

700-600

600-500

500-400

400-300

300-200

200-100

100-1 BCE

AMERICAS

Homo sapiens fossils (12,000 BP)

Cultivation of squash

Cultivation of beans

Cultivation of cotton, bottle gourd

Domestication of guinea pig, turkey,cultivation of maize

Cultivation of potato, chilli*, cassava,peanut, domestication of llama* and alpaca

Olmec settlements around the Gulf ofMexico, early temples and sculpture

Development of a hieroglyphic script

AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC ISLANDS

Homo sapiens fossils, earliest indicationsof sea-faring (45,000 BP)

Paintings (20,000 BP)

Settlements in Polynesia and Micronesia

ACTIVITY

Choose one datefrom each of the6 columns and

discuss thepossible

significance ofthe process/event for menand womenliving in the

region.

TIMELINE-I

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1 FROM THE BEGINNINGOF TIME

THIS chapter traces the beginning of human existence. It was5.6 million years ago (written as mya) that the first human-like creatures appeared on the earth's surface. After this,several forms of humans emerged and then became extinct.Human beings resembling us (henceforth referred to as'modern humans') originated about 160,000 years ago. Duringthis long period of human history, people obtained food byeither scavenging or hunting animals and gathering plantproduce. They also learnt how to make stone tools and tocommunicate with each other.

Although other ways of obtaining food were adopted later,hunting-gathering continued. Even today there are hunter-gatherer societies in some parts of the world. This makes uswonder whether the lifestyles of present-day hunter-gathererscan tell us anything about the past.

Discoveries of human fossils, stone tools and cave paintingshelp us to understand early human history. Each of thesediscoveries has a history of its own. Very often, when suchfinds were first made, most scholars refused to accept thatthese fossils were the remains of early humans. They werealso sceptical about the ability of early humans to make stonetools or paint. It was only over a period of time that the truesignificance of these finds was realised.

The evidence for human evolution comes from fossils ofspecies of humans which have become extinct. Fossils canbe dated either through direct chemical analysis or indirectlyby dating the sediments in which they are buried. Once fossilsare dated, a sequence of human evolution can be workedout.

When such discoveries were first made, about 200 yearsago, many scholars were often reluctant to accept that fossilsand other finds including stone tools and paintings wereactually connected with early forms of humans. Thisreluctance generally stemmed from their belief in the OldTestament of the Bible, according to which human origin wasregarded as an act of Creation by God.

For instance, in August 1856, workmen who were quarryingfor limestone in the Neander valley (see Map 2, p. 18), a gorgenear the German city of Dusseldorf, found a skull and someskeletal fragments. These were handed over to Carl Fuhlrott,a local schoolmaster and natural historian, who realised that

Fossils are theremains or

impressions of avery old plant,

animal or humanwhich have turnedinto stone. These

are often embeddedin rock, and are

thus preserved formillions of years.

Species is a groupof organisms that

can breed toproduce fertile

offspring. Membersof one species

cannot mate withthose of other

species to producefertile offspring.

THEME

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they did not belong to a modern human. He then made aplaster cast of the skull and sent it to Herman Schaaffhausen,a professor of anatomy at Bonn University. The following yearthey jointly published a paper, claiming that this skullrepresented a form of human that was extinct. At that time,scholars did not accept this view and instead declared thatthe skull belonged to a person of more recent times.

24 November 1859, when Charles Darwin’s On the Originof Species was published, marked a landmark in the studyof evolution. All 1,250 copies of the first print were sold outthe same day. Darwin argued that humans had evolved fromanimals a long time ago.

Shows the equipment used to record the location of finds. Thesquare frame to the left of the archaeologist is a grid dividedinto 10 cm squares. Placing it over the find spot helps torecord the horizontal position of the find. The triangularapparatus to the right is used to record the vertical position.

Shows how a fossil fragment isrecovered from the surroundingstone, in this case a variety oflimestone, in which it isembedded. As you can see, thisrequires skill and patience.

RECOVERING FOSSILSA painstaking process. The precise location of finds is important for dating.

The skull of Neanderthal man. Someof those who dismissed the antiquityof the skull regarded it as 'brutish' orthat of a 'pathological idiot'.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME

ACTIVITY 1

Most religionshave storiesabout thecreation of

human beingswhich often donot correspondwith scientific

discoveries. Findout about some

of these andcompare them

with the history ofhuman evolutionas discussed in

this chapter.

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The Story of Human Evolution(a) The Precursors of Modern Human Beings

Look at these four skulls.A belongs to an ape.B belongs to a species known as Australopithecus (see below).C belongs to a species known as Homo erectus (literally ‘upright man’).D belongs to a species known as Homo sapiens (literally ‘thinking/wiseman’} to which all present-day human beings belong.List as many similarities and differences that you notice, lookingcarefully at the brain case, jaws and teeth.

The differences that you notice in the skulls shown in the illustrationare some of the changes that came about as a result of humanevolution. The story of human evolution is enormously long, andsomewhat complicated. There are also many unanswered questions,and new data often lead to a revision and modification of earlierunderstandings. Let us look at some of the developments and theirimplications more closely.

It is possible to trace these developments back to between 36 and24 mya. We sometimes find it difficult to conceptualise such longspans of time. If you consider a page of your book to represent10,000 years, in itself a vast span of time, 10 pages would represent100,000 years, and a 100 pages would equal 1 million years.To think of 36 million years, you would have to imagine a book3,600 pages long! That was when primates, a category of mammals,emerged in Asia and Africa. Subsequently, by about 24 mya, thereemerged a subgroup amongst primates, called hominoids. Thisincluded apes. And, much later, about 5.6 mya, we find evidence ofthe first hominids.

While hominids have evolved from hominoids and share certaincommon features, there are major differences as well. Hominoids havea smaller brain than hominids. They are quadrupeds, walking on allfours, but with flexible forelimbs. Hominids, by contrast, have anupright posture and bipedal locomotion (walking on two feet). Thereare also marked differences in the hand, which enables the makingand use of tools. We will examine the kinds of tools made and theirsignificance more closely later.

Two lines of evidence suggest an African origin for hominids. First,it is the group of African apes that are most closely related to hominids.Second, the earliest hominid fossils, which belong to the genusAustralopithecus, have been found in East Africa and date back toabout 5.6 mya. In contrast, fossils found outside Africa are no olderthan 1.8 million years.

Primatesare a subgroup of a

larger group ofmammals. Theyinclude monkeys,

apes and humans.They have bodyhair, a relatively

long gestationperiod followingbirth, mammaryglands, different

types of teeth, andthe ability to

maintain a constantbody temperature.

A

B

C

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THE EVOLUTION OF THE HAND

A shows the precision grip of the chimpanzee.B shows the power grip of the human hand.C shows the precision grip of the hominid.The development of the power grip probably

preceded the precision grip.Compare the precision grip of the chimpanzee with that of the

human hand.Make a list of the things you do using a precision grip.What are the things you do using a power grip?

Hominids belong to a family known as Hominidae, which includesall forms of human beings. The distinctive characteristics of hominidsinclude a large brain size, upright posture, bipedal locomotion andspecialisation of the hand.

Hominids are further subdivided into branches, known as genus, ofwhich Australopithecus and Homo are important. Each of these inturn includes several species. The major differences betweenAustralopithecus and Homo relate to brain size, jaws and teeth.The former has a smaller brain size, heavier jaws and larger teeth thanthe latter.

Virtually all the names given by scientists to species are derivedfrom Latin and Greek words. For instance, the name Australopithecuscomes from a Latin word, ‘austral’, meaning ‘southern’ and a Greekword, ‘pithekos’, meaning ‘ape.’ The name was given because this earliestform of humans still retained many features of an ape, such as arelatively small brain size in comparison to Homo, large back teeth andlimited dexterity of the hands. Upright walking was also restricted, asthey still spent a lot of time on trees. They retained characteristics

Hominoids aredifferent frommonkeys in a

number of ways.They have a larger

body and do nothave a tail.

Besides, there is alonger period of

infant developmentand dependency

amongsthominoids.

This is a view of theOlduvai Gorge in theRift Valley, East Africa(see Map 1b, p.14),one of the areas fromwhich traces of earlyhuman history havebeen recovered. Noticethe different levels ofearth at the centre ofthe photograph. Eachof these represents adistinct geologicalphase.

A

C

B


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(such as long forelimbs, curved hand and foot bones and mobile anklejoints) suited to life on trees. Over time, as tool making and long-distance walking increased, many human characteristics also developed.

The Discovery of Australopithecus, Olduvai Gorge,17 July 1959

The Olduvai Gorge (see p. 14) was first ‘discovered’ in the early twentieth centuryby a German butterfly collector. However, Olduvai has come to be identifiedwith Mary and Louis Leakey, who worked here for over 40 years. It was MaryLeakey who directed archaeological excavations at Olduvai and Laetoli andshe made some of the most exciting discoveries. This is what Louis Leakeywrote about one of their most remarkable finds:

‘That morning I woke with a headache anda slight fever. Reluctantly, I agreed to spend theday in camp.With one of us out of commission,it was even more vital for the other to continuethe work, for our precarious seven-week seasonwas running out. So Mary departed for thediggings with Sally and Toots [two of their dogs]in the Land-Rover [a jeep-like vehicle], and Isettled back to a restless day off.

Some time later – perhaps I dozed off – I heardthe Land-Rover coming up fast to camp. I had amomentary vision of Mary stung by one of ourhundreds of resident scorpions or bitten by asnake that had slipped past the dogs.

The Land-Rover rattled to a stop, and I heardMary’s voice calling over and over: “I’ve got him!I've got him! I’ve got him!” Still groggy from the

headache, I couldn’t make her out. “Got what? Are you hurt?” I asked. “Him,the man! Our man,” Mary said. “The one we’ve been looking for 23 years.Come quick, I’ve found his teeth!” ’

– From ‘Finding the World's Earliest Man’, by L.S.B. Leakey, National Geographic, 118(September 1960).

The remains of early humans have been classified into differentspecies. These are often distinguished from one another on the basisof differences in bone structure. For instance, species of early humansare differentiated in terms of their skull size and distinctive jaws (seeillustration on p.10). These characteristics may have evolved due towhat has been called the positive feedback mechanism.

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THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK MECHANISM

The arrows pointing towards a box indicate the influences thatshaped that particular development.

The arrows pointing away from a box indicate how developmentsmentioned in the box influenced other processes.

For example, bipedalism enabled hands to be freed for carryinginfants or objects. In turn, as hands were used more and more, uprightwalking gradually became more efficient. Apart from the advantage offreeing hands for various uses, far less energy is consumed while walkingas compared to the movement of a quadruped. However, the advantagein terms of saving energy is reversed while running. There is indirectevidence of bipedalism as early as 3.6 mya. This comes from thefossilised hominid footprints at Laetoli, Tanzania (see Section cover).Fossil limb bones recovered from Hadar, Ethiopia provide more directevidence of bipedalism.

Around 2.5 mya, with the onset of a phase of glaciation (or an IceAge), when large parts of the earth were covered with snow, there weremajor changes in climate and vegetation. Due to the reduction intemperatures as well as rainfall, grassland areas expanded at the expenseof forests, leading to the gradual extinction of the early forms ofAustralopithecus (that were adapted to forests) and the replacementby species that were better adapted to the drier conditions. Amongthese were the earliest representatives of the genus Homo.


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Homo is a Latin word, meaning ‘man’, although there were womenas well! Scientists distinguish amongst several types of Homo. Thenames assigned to these species are derived from what are regarded astheir typical characteristics. So fossils are classified as Homo habilis(the tool maker), Homo erectus (the upright man), and Homo sapiens(the wise or thinking man).

Fossils of Homo habilis have been discovered at Omo in Ethiopiaand at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. The earliest fossils of Homo erectushave been found both in Africa and Asia: Koobi Fora, and west Turkana,Kenya, Modjokerto and Sangiran, Java. As the finds in Asia belong toa later date than those in Africa, it is likely that hominids migratedfrom East Africa to southern and northern Africa, to southern andnorth-eastern Asia, and perhaps to Europe, some time between 2 and1.5 mya. This species survived for nearly a million years.

MAP 1(a): Africa

MAP 1(b): The EastAfrican Rift Valley

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In some instances, the names for fossils are derived from the placeswhere the first fossils of a particular type were found. So fossils foundin Heidelberg, a city in Germany, were called Homo heidelbergensis,while those found in the Neander valley (see p. 18) were categorised asHomo neanderthalensis.

The earliest fossils from Europe are of Homo heidelbergensis andHomo neanderthalensis. Both belong to the species of archaic (that is,old) Homo sapiens. The fossils of Homo heidelbergensis (0.8-0.1 mya)have a wide distribution, having been found in Africa, Asia and Europe.The Neanderthals occupied Europe and western and Central Asia fromroughly 130,000 to 35,000 years ago. They disappeared abruptly inwestern Europe around 35,000 years ago.

In general, compared with Australopithecus, Homo have a largerbrain, jaws with a reduced outward protrusion and smaller teeth (seeillustration on p. 10). An increase in brain size is associated with moreintelligence and a better memory. The changes in the jaws and teethwere probably related to differences in dietary habits.

PEOPLING OF THE WORLD

WHEN WHERE WHO

5-1 mya Sub-Saharan Africa Australopithecus, earlyHomo, Homo erectus

1 mya-40,000 years ago Africa, Asia and Europe in Homo erectus, archaicmid-latitudes Homo sapiens,

Neanderthals, Homosapiens sapiens/modernhumans

45,000 years ago Australia Modern humans

40,000 years ago to Europe in high-latitudes Late Neanderthals,present and Asia-Pacific islands modern humans

North and South Americain deserts, rain forests

ACTIVITY 2

Plot the changes indicated in the chart above on an outlinemap of the world. Use different colours for the four timebrackets. List the continents where you use (a) a single

colour, (b) two colours, (c) more than two colours.


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The Story of Human Evolution(b) Modern Human Beings

If you look at this chart, you will notice thatsome of the earliest evidence for Homo sapienshas been found in different parts of Africa.This raises the question of the centre of humanorigin. Was there a single centre or were thereseveral?

The issue of the place of origin of modernhumans has been much debated. Two totallydivergent views have been expounded, oneadvocating the regional continuity model (withmultiple regions of origin), the other thereplacement model (with a single origin inAfrica).

According to the regional continuity model,the archaic Homo sapiens in different regionsgradually evolved at different rates into modernhumans, and hence the variation in the firstappearance of modern humans in differentparts of the world. The argument is based onthe regional differences in the features ofpresent-day humans. According to those whoadvocate this view, these dissimilarities are dueto differences between the pre-existing Homoerectus and Homo heidelbergensis populationsthat occupied the same regions.

The Replacement and RegionalContinuity ModelsThe replacement model visualises the complete

replacement everywhere of all older forms of humans with modernhumans. In support of this view is the evidence of the genetic andanatomical homogeneity of modern humans. Those who suggestthis argue that the enormous similarity amongst modern humansis due to their descent from a population that originated in a singleregion, which is Africa. The evidence of the earliest fossils of modernhumans (from Omo in Ethiopia) also supports the replacement model.Scholars who hold this view suggest that the physical differencesobserved today among modern humans are the result of adaptation(over a span of thousands of years) by populations who migrated tothe particular regions where they finally settled down.

WHERE WHEN (years ago)

ETHIOPIA 195,000-160,000Omo Kibish

SOUTH AFRICA 120,000-50,000Border CaveDie KeldersKlasies River Mouth

MOROCCO 70,000-50,000Dar es Solton

ISRAEL 100,000-80,000Qafzeh Skhul

AUSTRALIA 45,000-35,000Lake Mungo

BORNEO 40,000Niah Cave

FRANCE 35,000Cro-Magnon,near Les Eyzies

THE EARLIEST FOSSILS OF MODERNHUMANS

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17

Early Humans: Ways of Obtaining Food

So far, we have been considering the evidence of skeletal remains andseeing how these have been used to reconstruct the histories of themovements of peoples across continents. But, there are other, more routineaspects of human life as well. Let us see how these can be studied.

Early humans would have obtained food through a number of ways,such as gathering, hunting, scavenging and fishing. Gathering wouldinvolve collecting plant foods such as seeds, nuts, berries, fruits andtubers. That gathering was practised is generally assumed rather thanconclusively established, as there is very little direct evidence for it.While we get a fair amount of fossil bones, fossilised plant remains arerelatively rare. The only other way of getting information about plantintake would be if plant remains were accidentally burnt. This processresults in carbonisation. In this form, organic matter is preserved fora long span of time. However, so far archaeologists have not foundmuch evidence of carbonised seeds for this very early period.

In recent years, the term hunting has been under discussion byscholars. Increasingly, it is being suggested that the early hominidsscavenged or foraged* for meat and marrow from the carcasses ofanimals that had died naturally or had been killed by other predators.It is equally possible that small mammals such as rodents, birds (andtheir eggs), reptiles and even insects (such as termites) were eaten byearly hominids.

Hunting probably began later – about 500,000 years ago. The earliestclear evidence for the deliberate, planned hunting and butchery oflarge mammals comes from two sites: Boxgrove in southern England(500,000 years ago) and Schoningen in Germany (400,000 years ago)

*Foraging means tosearch

for food.


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(see Map 2 ). Fishing was also important, as is evident from the discoveryof fish bones at different sites.

From about 35,000 years ago, there is evidence of planned huntingfrom some European sites. Some sites, such as Dolni Vestonice (inthe Czech Republic, see Map 2), which was near a river, seem to havebeen deliberately chosen by early people. Herds of migratory animalssuch as reindeer and horse probably crossed the river during theirautumn and spring migrations and were killed on a large scale. Thechoice of such sites indicates that people knew about the movementof these animals and also about the means of killing large numbersof animals quickly.

Did men and women have different roles in gathering, scavenging,hunting and fishing? We do not really know. Today we find societiesthat live by hunting and gathering, where women and men undertakea range of different activities, but, as we will see later in the chapter, itis not always possible to suggest parallels with the past.

Early HumansFrom Trees, to Caves and Open-air Sites

We are on surer ground when we try to reconstruct the evidence forpatterns of residence. One way of doing this is by plotting thedistribution of artefacts. For example, thousands of flake tools andhand axes have been excavated at Kilombe and Olorgesailie (Kenya).These finds are dated between 700,000 and 500,000 years ago.

MAP 2: Europe

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How did these tools accumulate in one place? It is possible thatsome places, where food resources were abundant, were visitedrepeatedly. In such areas, people would tend to leave behind traces oftheir activities and presence, including artefacts. The deposited artefactswould appear as patches on the landscape. The places that were lessfrequently visited would have fewer artefacts, which may have beenscattered over the surface.

It is also important to remember that the same locations could havebeen shared by hominids, other primates and carnivores. Look at thediagram below to see how this may have worked.

Left: The site ofOlorgesailie. Theexcavators, Mary andLouis Leakey, had acatwalk built aroundthe site for observers.Above: A close-up oftools found at the site,including hand axes.

Artefacts areobjects that are

made by humanbeings. The term

can refer to a widerange of things –tools, paintings,

sculpture,engravings.Archaeologists suggest that early hominids such as Homo habilis probably

consumed most of the food where they found it, slept in different places, andspent much of their time in trees. How would bones have reached the site? Howwould stones have reached the site? Would bones have survived intact?


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Between 400,000 and 125,000 years ago, caves and open-airsites began to be used. Evidence for this comes from sites in

Europe. In the Lazaret cave in southern France, a 12x4metre shelter was built against the cave wall. Inside itwere two hearths and evidence of different food sources:fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, bird eggs and freshwaterfish (trout, perch and carp). At another site, Terra Amataon the coast of southern France, flimsy shelters withroofs of wood and grasses were built for short-term,seasonal visits.

Pieces of baked clay and burnt bone along with stonetools, dated between 1.4 and 1 mya, have been found at Chesowanja,Kenya and Swartkrans, South Africa. Were these the result of a naturalbushfire or volcanic eruption? Or were they produced through thedeliberate, controlled use of fire? We do not really know.

Hearths, on the other hand, are indications of the controlled use offire. This had several advantages – fire provided warmth and lightinside caves, and could be used for cooking. Besides, fire was used toharden wood, as for instance the tip of the spear. The use of heat alsofacilitated the flaking of tools. As important, fire could be used to scareaway dangerous animals.

Early Humans: Making Tools

To start with, it is useful to remember that the use of tools and toolmaking are not confined to humans. Birds are known to make objectsto assist them with feeding, hygiene and social encounters;and while foraging for food some chimpanzees use tools that theyhave made.

However, there are some features of human tool making that arenot known among apes. As we have seen (see p. 11),

certain anatomical and neurological (related tothe nervous system) adaptations have led to

the skilled use of hands, probably due tothe important role of tools in human lives.Moreover, the ways in which humans useand make tools often require greatermemory and complex organisational skills,

both of which are absent in apes.The earliest evidence for the

making and use of stone toolscomes from sites in Ethiopia andKenya (see Map 1). It is likely thatthe earliest stone tool makers werethe Australopithecus.

This is areconstruction of a hutat Terra Amata. Thelarge stone boulderswere used to supportthe sides of the hut.The small scatters ofstone on the floor wereplaces where peoplemade stone tools. Theblack spot markedwith an arrowindicates a hearth.In what ways do youthink life for thosewho lived in thisshelter would bedifferent from that ofthe hominids wholived on trees?

Some early tools.These tools werefound in Olduvai.The one above is achopper. This is a largestone from whichflakes have beenremoved to produce aworking edge.The one below is ahand axe.Can you suggest whatthese tools may havebeen used for?

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As in the case of other activities, we do not know whether toolmaking was done by men or women or both. It is possible thatstone tool makers were both women and men. Women in particularmay have made and used tools to obtain food for themselves aswell as to sustain their children after weaning.

About 35,000 years ago, improvements in the techniques for killinganimals are evident from the appearanceof new kinds of tools such as spear-throwers and the bow and arrow. Themeat thus obtained was probablyprocessed by removing the bones, followedby drying, smoking and storage. Thus, foodcould be stored for later consumption.

There were other changes, such as the trapping of fur-bearinganimals (to use the fur for clothing) and the invention of sewing needles.The earliest evidence of sewn clothing comes from about 21,000 yearsago. Besides, with the introduction of the punch blade technique tomake small chisel-like tools, it was now possible to make engravingson bone, antler, ivory or wood.

A spear-thrower.Note the carving onthe handle. The use ofthe spear-throwerenabled hunters tohurl spears overlonger distances.Can you suggest anyadvantage in usingsuch equipment?

(a) The top of a large pebble is removed using a hammer stone.(b) This produces a flat surface called the striking platform.(c) This is then struck using a hammer and a punch, made of bone or antler.(d) This leads to the production of blades that can be used as knives, or

modified to serve as chisels or burins which could be used to engrave bone,antler, ivory or wood.

(e) An example of engraving on bone. Note the drawings of animals on it.

THE PUNCH BLADE TECHNIQUE

B

A C

D

E


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Modes of Communication: Language and Art

Among living beings, it is humans alone that have a language. Thereare several views on language development: (1) that hominid languageinvolved gestures or hand movements; (2) that spoken language waspreceded by vocal but non-verbal communication such as singing orhumming; (3) that human speech probably began with calls like theones that have been observed among primates. Humans may havepossessed a small number of speech sounds in the initial stage.Gradually, these may have developed into language.

When did spoken language emerge? It has been suggested that thebrain of Homo habilis had certain features which would have made itpossible for them to speak. Thus, language may have developed asearly as 2 mya. The evolution of the vocal tract was equally important.This occurred around 200,000 years ago. It is more specificallyassociated with modern humans.

A third suggestion is that language developed around the sametime as art, that is, around 40,000-35,000 years ago. The developmentof spoken language has been seen as closely connected with art, sinceboth are media for communication.

Cave Paintings at Altamira

Altamira is a cave site in Spain. Thepaintings on the ceiling of the cavewere first brought to the attentionof Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, alocal landowner and an amateurarchaeologist, by his daughterMaria in November 1879. The littlegirl was ‘running about in thecavern and playing about here andthere’, while her father was diggingthe floor of the cave. Suddenly shenoticed the paintings on the ceiling:‘Look, Papa, oxen!’ At first, herfather just laughed, but soonrealised that some sort of paste

rather than paint had been used for the paintings and became ‘soenthusiastic that he could hardly speak’. He published a bookletthe following year, but for almost two decades his findings weredismissed by European archaeologists on the ground that these weretoo good to be ancient.

A drawing of a bisonat Altamira, northernSpain.

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Hundreds of paintings of animals (done between 30,000 and12,000years ago) have been discovered in the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet,both in France, and Altamira, in Spain. These include depictions ofbison, horses, ibex, deer, mammoths, rhinos, lions, bears, panthers,hyenas and owls.

More questions have been raised than answered regarding thesepaintings. For example, why do some areas of caves have paintingsand not others? Why were some animals painted and not others? Whywere men painted both individually and in groups, whereas womenwere depicted only in groups? Why were men painted near animalsbut never women? Why were groups of animals painted in the sectionsof caves where sounds carried well?

Several explanations have been offered. One is that because of theimportance of hunting, the paintings of animals were associated withritual and magic. The act of painting could have been a ritual to ensurea successful hunt. Another explanation offered is that these caveswere possibly meeting places for small groups of people or locations forgroup activities. These groups could share hunting techniques andknowledge, while paintings and engravings served as the media forpassing information from one generation to the next.

The above account of early societies has been based onarchaeological evidence. Clearly, there is much that we still do notknow. As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, hunter-gatherersocieties exist even today. Can one learn anything about past societiesfrom present-day hunter-gatherers? This is a question we willaddress in the next section.

Early Encounters with Hunter-Gatherersin Africa

The following is an account by a member of an African pastoral groupabout its initial contact in 1870 with the !Kung San, a hunter-gatherersociety living in the Kalahari desert:

When we first came into this area, all we saw were strangefootprints in the sand. We wondered what kind of people thesewere. They were very afraid of us and would hide whenever wecame around. We found their villages, but they were alwaysempty because as soon as they saw strangers coming, theywould scatter and hide in the bush. We said: ‘Oh, this is good;these people are afraid of us, they are weak and we can easilyrule over them.’ So we just ruled them. There was no killingor fighting.

You will read more about encounters with hunter-gatherers inThemes 8 and 10.


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The Hadza

‘The Hadza are a small group of hunters and gatherers, living inthe vicinity of Lake Eyasi, a salt, rift-valley lake...The country of theeastern Hadza, dry, rocky savanna, dominated by thorn scrub andacacia trees...is rich in wild foods. Animals are exceptionallynumerous and were certainly commoner at the beginning of thecentury. Elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, waterbuck,gazelle, warthog, baboon, lion, leopard, and hyena are all common,as are smaller animals such as porcupine, hare, jackal, tortoise andmany others. All of these animals, apart from the elephant, arehunted and eaten by the Hadza. The amount of meat that could beregularly eaten without endangering the future of the game isprobably greater than anywhere else in the world where huntersand gatherers live or have lived in the recent past.

Vegetable food – roots, berries, the fruit of the baobab tree, etc. –though not often obvious to the casual observer, is always abundanteven at the height of the dry season in a year of drought. The typeof vegetable food available is different in the six-month wet seasonfrom the dry season but there is no period of shortage. The honeyand grubs of seven species of wild bee are eaten; supplies of thesevary from season to season and from year to year.

Sources of water are widely distributed over the country in the wetseason but are very few in the dry season. The Hadza consider thatabout 5-6 kilometres is the maximum distance over which watercan reasonably be carried and camps are normally sited within akilometre of a water course.

Part of the country consists of open grass plains but the Hadzanever build camps there. Camps are invariably sited among treesor rocks and, by preference, among both.

The eastern Hadza assert no rights over land and its resources.Any individual may live wherever he likes and may hunt animals,collect roots, berries, and honey and draw water anywhere in Hadzacountry without any sort of restriction...

In spite of the exceptional numbers of game animals in theirarea, the Hadza rely mainly on wild vegetable matter for theirfood. Probably as much as 80 per cent of their food by weight isvegetable, while meat and honey together account for theremaining 20 per cent.

Camps are commonly small and widely dispersed in the wetseason, large and concentrated near the few available sources ofwater in the dry season.

There is never any shortage of food even in the time of drought.’

– Written in 1960 by James Woodburn, an anthropologist.

ACTIVITY 3

Why do theHadza not assertrights over land

and itsresources? Whydo the size and

location ofcamps keep

changing fromseason to

season? Why isthere never anyshortage of foodeven in times ofdrought? Canyou name anysuch hunter-

gatherersocieties in India

today?

Anthropology is adiscipline thatstudies human

culture andevolutionary

aspects of humanbiology.

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Hunter-Gatherer SocietiesFrom the Present to the Past

As our knowledge of present-day hunter-gatherers increased throughstudies by anthropologists, a question that began to be posed waswhether the information about living hunters and gatherers could beused to understand past societies. Currently, there are two opposingviews on this issue.

On one side are scholars who have directly applied specific datafrom present-day hunter-gatherer societies to interpret thearchaeological remains of the past. For example, some archaeologistshave suggested that the hominid sites, dated to 2 mya, along themargins of Lake Turkana could have been dry season camps of earlyhumans, because such a practice has been observed among the Hadzaand the !Kung San.

On the other side are scholars who feel that ethnographic datacannot be used for understanding past societies as the two are totallydifferent. For instance, present-day hunter-gatherer societies pursueseveral other economic activities along with hunting and gathering.These include engaging in exchange and trade in minor forest produce,or working as paid labourers in the fields of neighbouring farmers.Moreover, these societies are totally marginalised in all senses –geographically, politically and socially. The conditions in which theylive are very different from those of early humans.

Another problem is that there is tremendous variation amongstliving hunter-gatherer societies. There are conflicting data on manyissues such as the relative importance of hunting and gathering, groupsizes, or the movement from place to place.

Also, there is little consensus regarding the division of labour infood procurement. Although today generally women gather and menhunt, there are societies where both women and men hunt and gatherand make tools. In any case, the important role of women in contributingto the food supply in such societies cannot be denied. It is perhaps thisfactor that ensures a relatively equal role for both women and men inpresent-day hunter-gatherer societies, although there are variations.While this may be the case today, it is difficult to make any suchinference for the past.

EpilogueFor several million years, humans lived by hunting wild animals andgathering wild plants. Then, between 10,000 and 4,500 years ago,people in different parts of the world learnt to domesticate certainplants and animals. This led to the development of farming andpastoralism as a way of life. The shift from foraging to farming was a

Ethnography is thestudy of

contemporaryethnic groups. It

includes anexamination oftheir modes of

livelihood,technology, gender

roles, rituals,political

institutions andsocial customs.


ACTIVITY 4

What do youthink are the

advantages anddisadvantages of

usingethnographicaccounts to

reconstruct thelives of the

earliest peoples?

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major turning point in human history. Why did this change take placeat this point of time?

The last ice age came to an end about 13,000 years ago and withthat warmer, wetter conditions prevailed. As a result, conditions werefavourable for the growth of grasses such as wild barley and wheat. Atthe same time, as open forests and grasslands expanded, the populationof certain animal species such as wild sheep, goat, cattle, pig anddonkey increased. What we find is that human societies began togradually prefer areas that had an abundance of wild grasses andanimals. Now relatively large, permanent communities occupied suchareas for most parts of the year. With some areas being clearly preferred,a pressure may have built up to increase the food supply. This mayhave triggered the process of domestication of certain plants andanimals. It is likely that a combination of factors which included climaticchange, population pressure, a greater reliance on and knowledge of afew species of plants (such as wheat, barley, rice and millet) and animals(such as sheep, goat, cattle, donkey and pig) played a role in thistransformation.

One such area where farming and pastoralism began around 10,000years ago was the Fertile Crescent, extending from the Mediterraneancoast to the Zagros mountains in Iran. With the introduction ofagriculture, more people began to stay in one place for even longerperiods than they had done before. Thus permanent houses began tobe built of mud, mud bricks and even stone. These are some of theearliest villages known to archaeologists.

Farming and pastoralism led to the introduction of many otherchanges such as the making of pots in which to store grain and otherproduce, and to cook food. Besides, new kinds of stone tools came intouse. Other new tools such as the plough were used in agriculture.Gradually, people became familiar with metals such as copper and tin.The wheel, important for both pot making and transportation, cameinto use.

About 5,000 years ago, even larger concentrations of people beganto live together in cities. Why did this happen? And what are thedifferences between cities and other settlements? Look out for answersto these and other questions in Theme 2.

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TIMELINE 1 (mya)

36-24 mya Primates;Monkeys in Asia and Africa

24 mya (Superfamily) Hominoids;Gibbons, Asian orang-utan andAfrican apes (gorilla, chimpanzee andbonobo or ‘pygmy’ chimpanzee)

6.4 mya Branching out of hominoids and hominids

5.6 mya Australopithecus

2.6-2.5 Earliest stone tools

2.5-2.0 Cooling and drying of Africa, resulting in decrease inwoodlands and increase in grasslands

2.5-2.0 mya Homo

2.2 mya Homo habilis

1.8 mya Homo erectus

1.3 mya Extinction of Australopithecus

0.8 mya ‘Archaic’ sapiens, Homo heidelbergensis

0.19-0.16 mya Homo sapiens sapiens (modern humans)

TIMELINE 2 (years ago)

Earliest evidence of burials 300,000

Extinction of Homo erectus 200,000

Development of voice box 200,000

Archaic Homo sapiens skull in the Narmada valley, India 200,000-130,000

Emergence of modern humans 195,000-160,000

Emergence of Neanderthals 130,000

Earliest evidence of hearths 125,000

Extinction of Neanderthals 35,000

Earliest evidence of figurines made of fired clay 27,000

Invention of sewing needles 21,000


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Exercises

ANSWER IN BRIEF

1. Look at the diagram showing the positive feedback mechanism on page13. Can you list the inputs that went into tool making? What were theprocesses that were strengthened by tool making?

2. Humans and mammals such as monkeys and apes have certainsimilarities in behaviour and anatomy. This indicates that humanspossibly evolved from apes. List these resemblances in two columns underthe headings of (a) behaviour and (b) anatomy. Are there any differencesthat you think are noteworthy?

3. Discuss the arguments advanced in favour of the regional continuitymodel of human origins. Do you think it provides a convincingexplanation of the archaeological evidence? Give reasons for youranswer.

4. Which of the following do you think is best documented in thearchaeological record: (a) gathering, (b) tool making, (c) the use of fire?

ANSWER IN A SHORT ESSAY

5. Discuss the extent to which (a) hunting and (b) constructing shelterswould have been facilitated by the use of language. What other modesof communication could have been used for these activities?

6. Choose any two developments each from Timelines 1 and 2 at the endof the chapter and indicate why you think these are significant.

The Rift Valley, EastAfrica.

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writing and city life

CITY life began in Mesopotamia*, the land between theEuphrates and the T igris rivers that is now part of theRepublic of Iraq. Mesopotamian civilisation is known for itsprosperity, city life, its voluminous and rich literature and itsmathematics and astronomy. Mesopotamia’s writing systemand literature spread to the eastern Mediterranean, northernSyria, and Turkey after 2000 BCE, so that the kingdoms ofthat entire region were writing to one another, and to thePharaoh of Egypt, in the language and script of Mesopotamia.Here we shall explore the connection between city life andwriting, and then look at some outcomes of a sustainedtradition of writing.

In the beginning of recorded history, the land, mainly theurbanised south (see discussion below), was called Sumerand Akkad. After 2000 BCE, when Babylon became animportant city, the term Babylonia was used for the southernregion. From about 1100 BCE, when the Assyrians establishedtheir kingdom in the north, the region became known asAssyria. The first known language of the land was Sumerian.It was gradually replaced by Akkadian around 2400 BCE

when Akkadian speakers arrived. This language flourishedtill about Alexander’s time (336-323 BCE), with some regionalchanges occurring. From 1400 BCE, Aramaic also trickled in.This language, similar to Hebrew, became widely spoken after1000 BCE. It is still spoken in parts of Iraq.

Archaeology in Mesopotamia began in the 1840s. At one ortwo sites (including Uruk and Mari, which we discuss below),excavations continued for decades. (No Indian site has everseen such long-term projects.) Not only can we studyhundreds of Mesopotamian buildings, statues, ornaments,graves, tools and seals as sources, there are thousands ofwritten documents.

Mesopotamia was important to Europeans because ofreferences to it in the Old Testament, the first part of theBible. For instance, the Book of Genesis of the Old Testamentrefers to ‘Shimar’, meaning Sumer, as a land of brick-builtcities. Travellers and scholars of Europe looked onMesopotamia as a kind of ancestral land, and whenarchaeological work began in the area, there was an attemptto prove the literal truth of the Old Testament.

2THEME

*The nameMesopotamia isderived from the

Greek words mesos,meaning middle,

and potamos,meaning river.

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From the mid-nineteenth century there was no stoppingthe enthusiasm for exploring the ancient past ofMesopotamia. In 1873, a British newspaper funded anexpedition of the British Museum to search for a tabletnarrating the story of the Flood, mentioned in the Bible.

By the 1960s, it was understood that the stories of theOld Testament were not literally true, but may have beenways of expressing memories about important changes inhistory. Gradually, archaeological techniques became farmore sophisticated and refined. What is more, attention wasdirected to different questions, including reconstructing thelives of ordinary people. Establishing the literal truth ofBiblical narratives receded into the background. Much ofwhat we discuss subsequently in the chapter is based onthese later studies.

According to theBible, the Flood was

meant to destroyall life on earth.

However, God chosea man, Noah, toensure that life

could continue afterthe Flood. Noah

built a huge boat,an ark. He took apair each of all

known species ofanimals and birdson board the ark,

which survived theFlood. There was astrikingly similar

story in theMesopotamian

tradition, where theprincipal characterwas called Ziusudra

or Utnapishtim.

Mesopotamia and its GeographyIraq is a land of diverse environments. In the north-east lie green,undulating plains, gradually rising to tree-covered mountain rangeswith clear streams and wild flowers, with enough rainfall to grow crops.Here, agriculture began between 7000 and 6000 BCE. In the north,there is a stretch of upland called a steppe, where animal herdingoffers people a better livelihood than agriculture – after the winterrains, sheep and goats feed on the grasses and low shrubs that growhere. To the east, tributaries of the Tigris provide routes of

MAP 1: West Asia

ACTIVITY 1

Many societieshave myths

about floods.These are often

ways ofpreserving and

expressingmemories about

importantchanges in

history. Find outmore about

these, noting howlife before and

after the flood isrepresented.

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communication into the mountains of Iran. The south is a desert – andthis is where the first cities and writing emerged (see below). Thisdesert could support cities because the rivers Euphrates and Tigris,which rise in the northern mountains, carry loads of silt (fine mud).When they flood or when their water is let out on to the fields, fertilesilt is deposited.

WRITING AND CITY LIFE

After the Euphrates has entered the desert, its water flows out intosmall channels. These channels flood their banks and, in the past,functioned as irrigation canals: water could be let into the fields ofwheat, barley, peas or lentils when necessary. Of all ancient systems,that of the Roman Empire (Theme 3) included, it was the agricultureof southern Mesopotamia that was the most productive, even thoughthe region did not have sufficient rainfall to grow crops.

Not only agriculture, Mesopotamian sheep and goats that grazedon the steppe, the north-eastern plains and the mountain slopes(that is, on tracts too high for the rivers to flood and fertilise) producedmeat, milk and wool in abundance. Further, fish was available inrivers and date-palms gave fruit in summer. Let us not, however,make the mistake of thinking that cities grew simply because ofrural prosperity. We shall discuss other factors by and by, but firstlet us be clear about city life.

MAP 2: Mesopotamia:Mountains, Steppe,Desert, IrrigatedZone of the South.

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The Significance of UrbanismCities and towns are not just places with large populations. It iswhen an economy develops in spheres other than food productionthat it becomes an advantage for people to cluster in towns. Urbaneconomies comprise besides food production, trade, manufacturesand services. City people, thus, cease to be self-sufficient and dependon the products or services of other (city or village) people. There iscontinuous interaction among them. For instance, the carver of astone seal requires bronze tools that he himself cannot make, andcoloured stones for the seals that he does not know where to get:his ‘specialisation’ is fine carving, not trading. The bronze tool makerdoes not himself go out to get the metals, copper and tin. Besides,he needs regular supplies of charcoal for fuel. The division of labouris a mark of urban life.

Further, there must be a social organisation in place. Fuel, metal,various stones, wood, etc., come from many different places forcity manufacturers. Thus, organised trade and storage is needed.There are deliveries of grain and other food items from the villageto the city, and food supplies need to be stored and distributed.Besides, many different activities have to be coordinated: theremust be not only stones but also bronze tools and pots availablefor seal cutters. Obviously, in such a system some people givecommands that others obey, and urban economies often requirethe keeping of written records.

The Warka Head

This woman’s head was sculpted inwhite marble at Uruk before 3000BCE. The eyes and eyebrows wouldprobably have taken lapis lazuli(blue) and shell (white) andbitumen (black) inlays, respectively.There is a groove along the top ofthe head, perhaps for anornament. This is a world-famouspiece of sculpture, admired for thedelicate modelling of the woman’smouth, chin and cheeks. And it wasmodelled in a hard stone thatwould have been imported from adistance.

Beginning with the procurement ofstone, list all the specialists who would

be involved in the production of such a piece of sculpture.

The earliest cities inMesopotamia dateback to the bronze

age, c.3000 BCE.Bronze is an alloyof copper and tin.

Using bronze meantprocuring these

metals, often fromgreat distances.Metal tools were

necessary foraccurate carpentry,

drilling beads,carving stone seals,

cutting shell forinlaid furniture,

etc. Mesopotamianweapons were also

of bronze – forexample, the tipsof the spears that

you see in theillustration on

p. 38.

ACTIVITY 2

Discusswhether city

life would havebeen possiblewithout the

use of metals.

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Movement of Goods into CitiesHowever rich the food resources of Mesopotamia, its mineral resourceswere few. Most parts of the south lacked stones for tools, seals andjewels; the wood of the Iraqi date-palm and poplar was not goodenough for carts, cart wheels or boats; and there was no metal fortools, vessels or ornaments. So we can surmise that the ancientMesopotamians could have traded their abundant textiles andagricultural produce for wood, copper, tin, silver, gold, shell andvarious stones from Turkey and Iran, or across the Gulf. These latterregions had mineral resources, but much less scope for agriculture.Regular exchanges – possible only when there was a social organisation– to equip foreign expeditions and direct the exchanges were initiatedby the people of southern Mesopotamia.

Besides crafts, trade and services, efficient transport is alsoimportant for urban development. If it takes too much time, or toomuch animal feed, to carry grain or charcoal into cities on packanimals or bullock carts, the city economy will not be viable. Thecheapest mode of transportation is, everywhere, over water. Riverboats or barges loaded with sacks of grain are propelled by the currentof the river and/or wind, but when animals transport goods,they need to be fed. The canals and natural channels ofancient Mesopotamia were in fact routes of goods transportbetween large and small settlements, and in the account onthe city of Mari later in the chapter, the importance of theEuphrates as a ‘world route’ will become clear.

The Development of WritingAll societies have languages in which certain spoken soundsconvey certain meanings. This is verbal communication.Writing too is verbal communication – but in a differentway. When we talk about writing or a script, we mean thatspoken sounds are represented invisible signs.

The first Mesopotamian tablets,written around 3200 BCE, containedpicture-like signs and numbers. Thesewere about 5,000 lists of oxen, fish, breadloaves, etc. – lists of goods that werebrought into or distributed from thetemples of Uruk, a city in the south.Clearly, writing began when societyneeded to keep records of transactions –because in city life transactions occurredat different times, and involved manypeople and a variety of goods.

GRAIN,FISH

NUMBERS,BOAT

OX

Clay tablets c.3200 BCE. Eachtablet is 3.5 cm or less inheight, with picture-like signs(ox, fish, grain, boat) andnumbers ( )


Cuneiform syllabicsigns.

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Mesopotamians wrote on tablets of clay. A scribe would wet clayand pat it into a size he could hold comfortably in one hand. He would

carefully smoothen its surfaces. With the sharp end of a reed cutobliquely, he would press wedge-shaped (‘cuneiform*’) signs on to thesmoothened surface while it was still moist. Once dried in the sun, theclay would harden and tablets would be almost as indestructible aspottery. When a written record of, say, the delivery of pieces of metalhad ceased to be relevant, the tablet was thrown away. Once the surfacedried, signs could not be pressed on to a tablet: so each transaction,however minor, required a separate written tablet. This is why tabletsoccur by the hundreds at Mesopotamian sites. And it is because of thiswealth of sources that we know so much more about Mesopotamiathan we do about contemporary India.

By 2600 BCE or so, the letters became cuneiform, and the languagewas Sumerian. Writing was now used not only for keeping records,but also for making dictionaries, giving legal validity to land transfers,narrating the deeds of kings, and announcing the changes a kinghad made in the customary laws of the land. Sumerian, the earliestknown language of Mesopotamia, was gradually replaced after2400 BCE by the Akkadian language. Cuneiform writing in theAkkadian language continued in use until the first century CE, thatis, for more than 2,000 years.

The System of WritingThe sound that a cuneiform sign represented was not a single consonantor vowel (such as m or a in the English alphabet), but syllables (say,-put-, or -la-, or –in-). Thus, the signs that a Mesopotamian scribe had

* Cuneiform isderived from the

Latin words cuneus,meaning ‘wedge’ and

forma, meaning‘shape’.

A clay tablet writtenon both sides incuneiform.It is a mathematicalexercise – you can seea triangle and linesacross the triangle onthe top of the obverseside. You can see thatthe letters have beenpressed into the clay.

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to learn ran into hundreds, and he had to be able to handle a wettablet and get it written before it dried. So, writing was a skilled craftbut, more important, it was an enormous intellectual achievement,conveying in visual form the system of sounds of a particular language.

LiteracyVery few Mesopotamians could read and write. Not only were therehundreds of signs to learn, many of these were complex (see p. 33). Ifa king could read, he made sure that this was recorded in one of hisboastful inscriptions! For the most part, however, writing reflected themode of speaking.

A letter from an official would have to be read out to the king. So itwould begin:

‘To my lord A, speak: … Thus says your servant B: … I have carriedout the work assigned to me ...’

A long mythical poem about creation ends thus:‘Let these verses be held in remembrance and let the elder teachthem;let the wise one and the scholar discuss them;let the father repeat them to his sons;let the ears of (even) the herdsman be opened to them.’

The Uses of WritingThe connection between city life, trade and writing is brought out in along Sumerian epic poem about Enmerkar, one of the earliest rulers ofUruk. In Mesopotamian tradition, Uruk was the city par excellence,often known simply as The City.

Enmerkar is associated with the organisation of the first trade ofSumer: in the early days, the epic says, ‘trade was not known’.Enmerkar wanted lapis lazuli and precious metals for thebeautification of a city temple and sent his messenger out to getthem from the chief of a very distant land called Aratta. ‘Themessenger heeded the word of the king. By night he went just bythe stars. By day, he would go by heaven’s sun divine. He had to goup into the mountain ranges, and had to come down out of themountain ranges. The people of Susa (a city) below the mountainssaluted him like tiny mice*. Five mountain ranges, six mountainranges, seven mountain ranges he crossed...’

The messenger could not get the chief of Aratta to part with lapislazuli or silver, and he had to make the long journey back and forth,again and again, carrying threats and promises from the king of Uruk.Ultimately, the messenger ‘grew weary of mouth’. He got all the messagesmixed up. Then, ‘Enmerkar formed a clay tablet in his hand, and hewrote the words down. In those days, there had been no writing downof words on clay.’


*The poet meansthat once the

messenger hadclimbed to a greatheight, everythingappeared small in

the valley far below.

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Given the written tablet, ‘the ruler of Aratta examined the clay. Thespoken words were nails*. His face was frowning. He kept looking atthe tablet.’

This should not be taken as the literal truth, but it can be inferredthat in Mesopotamian understanding it was kingship that organisedtrade and writing. This poem also tells us that, besides being a meansof storing information and of sending messages afar, writing was seenas a sign of the superiority of Mesopotamian urban culture.

Urbanisation in Southern Mesopotamia:Temples and KingsFrom 5000 BCE, settlements had begun to develop in southernMesopotamia. The earliest cities emerged from some of these settlements.These were of various kinds: those that gradually developed aroundtemples; those that developed as centres of trade; and imperial cities.It is cities of the first two kinds that will be discussed here.

Early settlers (their origins are unknown) began to build and rebuildtemples at selected spots in their villages. The earliest known templewas a small shrine made of unbaked bricks. Temples were the residencesof various gods: of the Moon God of Ur, or of Inanna the Goddess of Loveand War. Constructed in brick, temples became larger over time, with

several rooms around open courtyards. Some of theearly ones were possibly not unlike the ordinary house– for the temple was the house of a god. But templesalways had their outer walls going in and out at regularintervals, which no ordinary building ever had.

The god was the focus of worship: to him or herpeople brought grain, curd and fish (the floors of someearly temples had thick layers of fish bones). The godwas also the theoretical owner of the agricultural fields,the fisheries, and the herds of the local community. Intime, the processing of produce (for example, oilpressing, grain grinding, spinning, and the weaving ofwoollen cloth) was also done in the temple. Organiserof production at a level above the household, employerof merchants and keeper of written records ofdistributions and allotments of grain, plough animals,bread, beer, fish, etc., the temple gradually developedits activities and became the main urban institution.But there was also another factor on the scene.

In spite of natural fertility, agriculture was subjectto hazards. The natural outlet channels of the Euphrates would havetoo much water one year and flood the crops, and sometimes theywould change course altogether. As the archaeological record shows,villages were periodically relocated in Mesopotamian history. Therewere man-made problems as well. Those who lived on the upstream

The earliest knowntemple of the south,c.5000 BCE (plan).

*Cuneiform letterswere wedge shaped,

hence, like nails.

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stretches of a channel could divert so much water into their fieldsthat villages downstream were left without water. Or they could neglectto clean out the silt from their stretch of the channel, blocking theflow of water further down. So the early Mesopotamian countrysidesaw repeated conflict over land and water.

When there was continuous warfare in a region, those chiefs whohad been successful in war could oblige their followers by distributingthe loot, and could take prisoners from the defeated groups to employas their guards or servants. So they could increase their influence andclout. Such war leaders, however, would be here today and gonetomorrow – until a time came when such leadership came to increasethe well-being of the community with the creation of new institutionsor practices. In time, victorious chiefs began to offer precious booty tothe gods and thus beautify the community’s temples. They would sendmen out to fetch fine stones and metal for the benefit of the god andcommunity and organise the distribution of temple wealth in an efficientway by accounting for things that came in and went out. As the poemabout Enmerkar shows, this gave the king high status and the authorityto command the community.

We can imagine a mutually reinforcing cycle of development inwhich leaders encouraged the settlement of villagers close tothemselves, to be able to rapidly get an army together. Besides,people would be safe living in close proximity to one another. AtUruk, one of the earliest temple towns, we find depictions of armedheroes and their victims, and careful archaeological surveys haveshown that around 3000 BCE, when Uruk grew to the enormousextent of 250 hectares – twice as large as Mohenjo-daro would be inlater centuries – dozens of small villages were deserted. There had

A temple of a laterperiod, c.3000 BCE,with an opencourtyard and in-and-out façade (asexcavated).


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been a major population shift. Significantly, Uruk also came tohave a defensive wall at a very early date. The site was

continuously occupied from about 4200 BCE to about 400 CE,and by about 2800 BCE it had expanded to 400 hectares.

War captives and local people were put to work for thetemple, or directly for the ruler. This, rather thanagricultural tax, was compulsory. Those who were put towork were paid rations. Hundreds of ration lists havebeen found, which give, against people’s names, thequantities of grain, cloth or oil allotted to them. It hasbeen estimated that one of the temples took 1,500 menworking 10 hours a day, five years to build.

With rulers commanding people to fetch stones or metalores, to come and make bricks or lay the bricks for a

temple, or else to go to a distant country to fetch suitablematerials, there were also technical advances at Uruk around

3000 BCE. Bronze tools came into use for various crafts.Architects learnt to construct brick columns, there being no

suitable wood to bear the weight of the roof of large halls.Hundreds of people were put to work at making and baking clay

cones that could be pushed into temple walls, painted in differentcolours, creating a colourful mosaic. In sculpture, there were superbachievements, not in easily available clay but in imported stone.And then there was a technological landmark that we can say isappropriate to an urban economy: the potter’s wheel. In the longrun, the wheel enables a potter’s workshop to ‘mass produce’ dozensof similar pots at a time.

*Stelesare stone slabs with

inscriptions orcarvings.

Top: Basaltstele* showing abearded man twice.Note his headbandand hair, waistbandand long skirt. In thelower scene he attacksa lion with a huge bowand arrow. In thescene above, the herofinally kills therampant lion with aspear (c.3200 BCE).

Impression of a cylinder seal, c.3200 BCE. The bearded and armed standing figureis similar in dress and hairstyle to the hero in the stele* shown above.Note three prisoners of war, their arms bound, and a fourth man beseeching thewar leader.

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Five early cylinder seals and their impressions.Describe what you see in each of the impressions. Is the cuneiformscript shown on them?

The Seal – An Urban Artefact

In India, early stone seals were stamped. In Mesopotamia until theend of the first millennium BCE, cylindrical stone seals, pierced downthe centre, were fitted with a stick and rolled over wet clay so that acontinuous picture was created. They were carved by very skilledcraftsmen, and sometimes carry writing: the name of the owner, hisgod, his official position, etc. A seal could be rolled on clay coveringthe string knot of a cloth package or the mouth of a pot, keepingthe contents safe. When rolled on a letter written on a clay tablet, itbecame a mark of authenticity. So the seal was the mark of a citydweller’s role in public life.

Life in the CityWhat we have seen is that a ruling elite had emerged: a small sectionof society had a major share of the wealth. Nothing makes this fact asclear as the enormous riches (jewellery, gold vessels, wooden musicalinstruments inlaid with white shell and lapis lazuli, ceremonial daggersof gold, etc.) buried with some kings and queens at Ur. But what of theordinary people?

We know from the legal texts (disputes, inheritance matters, etc.)that in Mesopotamian society the nuclear family* was the norm,although a married son and his family often resided with his parents.The father was the head of the family. We know a little about theprocedures for marriage. A declaration was made about thewillingness to marry, the bride’s parents giving their consent to themarriage. Then a gift was given by the groom’s people to the bride’s

*A nuclear familycomprises of a man,

his wife andchildren.


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people. When the wedding took place, gifts were exchanged by bothparties, who ate together and made offerings in a temple. When hermother-in-law came to fetch her, the bride was given her share ofthe inheritance by her father. The father’s house, herds, fields, etc.,were inherited by the sons.

Let us look at Ur, one of the earliest cities to have been excavated.Ur was a town whose ordinary houses were systematically excavatedin the 1930s. Narrow winding streets indicate that wheeled cartscould not have reached many of the houses. Sacks of grain andfirewood would have arrived on donkey-back. Narrow windingstreets and the irregular shapes of house plots also indicate anabsence of town planning. There were no street drains of the kindwe find in contemporary Mohenjo-daro. Drains and clay pipes wereinstead found in the inner courtyards of the Ur houses and it isthought that house roofs sloped inwards and rainwater waschannelled via the drainpipes into sumps* in the inner courtyards.

This would have been a way ofpreventing the unpaved streetsfrom becoming excessively slushyafter a downpour.

Yet people seem to have sweptall their household refuse into thestreets, to be trodden underfoot!This made street levels rise, andover time the thresholds of houseshad also to be raised so that nomud would flow inside after therains. Light came into the roomsnot from windows but fromdoorways opening into thecourtyards: this would also havegiven families their privacy. Therewere superstitions about houses,recorded in omen tablets at Ur: araised threshold brought wealth;a front door that did not opentowards another house was lucky;but if the main wooden door of ahouse opened outwards (instead ofinwards), the wife would be atorment to her husband!

There was a town cemetery atUr in which the graves of royaltyand commoners have been found,but a few individuals were foundburied under the floors of ordinaryhouses.

*A sump is a coveredbasin in the ground

into which waterand sewage flow.

A residential areaat Ur, c. 2000 BCE.Can you locate,besides thewinding streets,two or three blindalleys?

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A Trading Town in a Pastoral ZoneAfter 2000 BCE the royal capital of Mariflourished. You will have noticed (see Map 2)that Mari stands not on the southern plainwith its highly productive agriculture butmuch further upstream on the Euphrates.Map 3 with its colour coding shows thatagriculture and animal rearing were carriedout close to each other in this region. Somecommunities in the kingdom of Mari hadboth farmers and pastoralists, but most ofits territory was used for pasturing sheepand goats.

Herders need to exchange young animals,cheese, leather and meat in return for grain,metal tools, etc., and the manure of a pennedflock is also of great use to a farmer. Yet, atthe same time, there may be conflict. Ashepherd may take his flock to water acrossa sown field, to the ruin of the crop.Herdsmen being mobile can raidagricultural villages and seize their storedgoods. For their part, settled groups maydeny pastoralists access to river and canalwater along a certain set of paths.

Through Mesopotamian history, nomadiccommunities of the western desert filtered into theprosperous agricultural heartland. Shepherds wouldbring their flocks into the sown area in the summer.Such groups would come in as herders, harvest labourersor hired soldiers, occasionally become prosperous, andsettle down. A few gained the power to establish theirown rule. These included the Akkadians, Amorites,Assyrians and Aramaeans. (You will read more aboutrulers from pastoral societies in Theme 5.) The kings ofMari were Amorites whose dress differed from that ofthe original inhabitants and who respected not only thegods of Mesopotamia but also raised a temple at Marifor Dagan, god of the steppe. Mesopotamian society andculture were thus open to different people and cultures,and the vitality of the civilisation was perhaps due tothis intermixture.

A warrior holding a long spear and a wicker shield.Note the dress, typical of Amorites, and different fromthat of the Sumerian warrior shown on p. 38. Thispicture was incised on shell, c.2600 BCE.


MAP 3: The Locationof Mari

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The Palace at Mari of King Zimrilim (1810-1760 BCE)

Scribes’ office with benches and clay bins forstoring tabletsCourtyard 131

Audience hall (132)

Outer court (131)

Inner court(106)

Throne room

Entrance gateWell© N

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43WRITING AND CITY LIFE

Kitchen

LavatoryandBath

Painting on wall of 132

Workshops andkitchen

Royalsuite

The Palace at Mari of KingZimrilim (1810-1760 BCE)

The great palace of Mariwas the residence of theroyal family, the hub ofadministration, and a placeof production, especially ofprecious metal ornaments.It was so famous in its timethat a minor king camefrom north Syria just to seeit, carrying with him a letterof introduction from a royalfriend of the king of Mari,Zimrilim. Daily lists revealthat huge quantities of foodwere presented each day forthe king’s table: flour,bread, meat, fish, fruit, beerand wine. He probably atein the company of manyothers, in or aroundcourtyard 106, paved white.You will notice from theplan that the palace hadonly one entrance, on thenorth. The large, opencourtyards such as 131 werebeautifully paved. The kingwould have received foreigndignitaries and his ownpeople in 132, a room withwall paintings that wouldhave awed the visitors. Thepalace was a sprawlingstructure, with 260 roomsand covered an area of 2.4hectares.

ACTIVITY 3

Trace the route from theentrance to the inner court.What do you think would

have been kept in thestorerooms?

How has the kitchen beenidentified?

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The kings of Mari, however, had to be vigilant; herders of varioustribes were allowed to move in the kingdom, but they were watched.The camps of herders are mentioned frequently in letters betweenkings and officials. In one letter, an officer writes to the king thathe has been seeing frequent fire signals at night – sent by onecamp to another – and he suspects that a raid or an attack isbeing planned.

Located on the Euphrates in a prime position for trade – in wood,copper, tin, oil, wine, and various other goods that were carried inboats along the Euphrates – between the south and the mineral-rich uplands of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, Mari is a good exampleof an urban centre prospering on trade. Boats carrying grindingstones, wood, and wine and oil jars, would stop at Mari on their wayto the southern cities. Officers of this town would go aboard, inspectthe cargo (a single river boat could hold 300 wine jars), and levy acharge of about one-tenth the value of the goods before allowing theboat to continue downstream. Barley came in special grain boats.Most important, tablets refer to copper from ‘Alashiya’, the islandof Cyprus, known for its copper, and tin was also an item of trade.As bronze was the main industrial material for tools and weapons,this trade was of great importance. Thus, although the kingdom ofMari was not militarily strong, it was exceptionally prosperous.

Excavating Mesopotamian TownsToday, Mesopotamian excavators have much higher standards of accuracy and care inrecording than in the old days, so that few dig huge areas the way Ur was excavated.Moreover, few archaeologists have the funds to employ large teams of excavators.Thus, the mode of obtaining data has changed.

Take the small town at Abu Salabikh, about 10 hectares in area in 2500 BCE with apopulation less than 10,000. The outlines of walls were at first traced by scrapingsurfaces. This involves scraping off the top few millimetres of the mound with thesharp and wide end of a shovel or other tool. While the soil underneath was still slightlymoist, the archaeologist could make out different colours, textures and lines of brickwalls or pits or other features. A few houses that were discovered were excavated. Thearchaeologists also sieved through tons of earth to recover plant and animal remains,and in the process identified many species of plants and animals and found largequantities of charred fish bones that had been swept out on to the streets. Plant seedsand fibre remained after dung cakes had been burned as fuel and thus kitchens wereidentified. Living rooms were those with fewer traces. Because they found the teeth ofvery young pigs on the streets, archaeologists concluded that pigs must have roamedfreely here as in any other Mesopotamian town. In fact, one house burial containedsome pig bones – the dead person must have been given some pork for his nourishmentin the afterlife! The archaeologists also made microscopic studies of room floors todecide which rooms in a house were roofed (with poplar logs, palm leaves, straw, etc.)and which were open to the sky.

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Cities in Mesopotamian CultureMesopotamians valued city life in which people of many communitiesand cultures lived side by side. After cities were destroyed in war, theyrecalled them in poetry.

The most poignant reminder to us of the pride Mesopotamianstook in their cities comes at the end of the Gilgamesh Epic, whichwas written on twelve tablets. Gilgamesh is said to have ruled thecity of Uruk some time after Enmerkar. A great hero who subduedpeople far and wide, he got a shock when his heroic friend died. Hethen set out to find the secret of immortality, crossing the watersthat surround the world. After a heroic attempt, Gilgamesh failed,and returned to Uruk. There, he consoled himself by walking alongthe city wall, back and forth. He admired the foundations made offired bricks that he had put into place. It is on the city wall of Urukthat the long tale of heroism and endeavour fizzles out. Gilgameshdoes not say that even though he will die his sons will outlive him,as a tribal hero would have done. He takes consolation in the citythat his people had built.

The Legacy of WritingWhile moving narratives can be transmitted orally, science requireswritten texts that generations of scholars can read and build upon.Perhaps the greatest legacy of Mesopotamia to the world is its scholarlytradition of time reckoning and mathematics.

Dating around 1800 BCE are tablets with multiplication and divisiontables, square- and square-root tables, and tables of compound interest.The square root of 2 was given as:

1 + 24/60 + 51/602 + 10/603

If you work this out, you will find that the answer is 1.41421296, onlyslightly different from the correct answer, 1.41421356. Students hadto solve problems such as the following: a field of area such and suchis covered one finger deep in water; find out the volume of water.

The division of the year into 12 months according to the revolutionof the moon around the earth, the division of the month into fourweeks, the day into 24 hours, and the hour into 60 minutes – all thatwe take for granted in our daily lives – has come to us from theMesopotamians. These time divisions were adopted by the successorsof Alexander and from there transmitted to the Roman world, then tothe world of Islam, and then to medieval Europe (see Theme 7 for howthis happened).

Whenever solar and lunar eclipses were observed, their occurrencewas noted according to year, month and day. So too there wererecords about the observed positions of stars and constellations inthe night sky.


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None of these momentous Mesopotamian achievements wouldhave been possible without writing and the urban institution ofschools, where students read and copied earlier written tablets, andwhere some boys were trained to become not record keepers for theadministration, but intellectuals who could build on the work oftheir predecessors.

We would be mistaken if we think that the preoccupation with theurban world of Mesopotamia is a modern phenomenon. Let us look,finally, at two early attempts to locate and preserve the texts andtraditions of the past.

An Early Library

In the iron age, the Assyrians of the north created an empire, at its heightbetween 720 and 610 BCE, that stretched as far west as Egypt. The state economywas now a predatory one, extracting labour and tribute in the form of food,animals, metal and craft items from a vast subject population.

The great Assyrian kings, who had been immigrants, acknowledged thesouthern region, Babylonia, as the centre of high culture and the last ofthem, Assurbanipal (668-627 BCE), collected a library at his capital, Ninevehin the north. He made great efforts to gather tablets on history, epics, omenliterature, astrology, hymns and poems. He sent his scribes south to find oldtablets. Because scribes in the south were trained to read and write in schoolswhere they all had to copy tablets by the dozen, there were towns in Babyloniawhere huge collections of tablets were created and acquired fame. Andalthough Sumerian ceased to be spoken after about 1800 BCE, it continued tobe taught in schools, through vocabulary texts, sign lists, bilingual (Sumerianand Akkadian) tablets, etc. So even in 650 BCE, cuneiform tablets written asfar back as 2000 BCE were intelligible – and Assurbanipal’s men knew whereto look for early tablets or their copies.

Copies were made of important texts such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, thecopier stating his name and writing the date. Some tablets ended with areference to Assurbanipal:

‘I, Assurbanipal, king of the universe, king of Assyria, on whom the godsbestowed vast intelligence, who could acquire the recondite details ofscholarly erudition, I wrote down on tablets the wisdom of the gods … AndI checked and collated the tablets. I placed them for the future in the libraryof the temple of my god, Nabu, at Nineveh, for my life and the well-beingof my soul, and to sustain the foundations of my royal throne…’

More important, there was cataloguing: a basket of tablets would have a claylabel that read: ‘n number of tablets about exorcism, written by X’. Assurbanipal’slibrary had a total of some 1,000 texts, amounting to about 30,000 tablets, groupedaccording to subject.

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And, an Early Archaeologist!

A man of the southern marshes, Nabopolassar, released Babylonia fromAssyrian domination in 625 BCE. His successors increased their territory andorganised building projects at Babylon. From that time, even after theAchaemenids of Iran conquered Babylon in 539 BCE and until 331 BCE whenAlexander conquered Babylon, Babylon was the premier city of the world,more than 850 hectares, with a triple wall, great palaces and temples, aziggurat or stepped tower, and a processional way to the ritual centre. Itstrading houses had widespread dealings and its mathematicians andastronomers made some new discoveries.

Nabonidus was the last ruler of independent Babylon. He writes that thegod of Ur came to him in a dream and ordered him to appoint a priestessto take charge of the cult in that ancient town in the deep south. He writes:‘Because for a very long time the office of High Priestess had been forgotten,her characteristic features nowhere indicated, I bethought myself day afterday …’

Then, he says, he found the stele of a very early king whom we todaydate to about 1150 BCE and saw on that stele the carved image of the Priestess.He observed the clothing and the jewellery that was depicted. This is howhe was able to dress his daughter for her consecration as Priestess.

On another occasion, Nabonidus’s men brought to him a broken statueinscribed with the name of Sargon, king of Akkad. (We know today thatthe latter ruled around 2370 BCE.) Nabonidus, and indeed manyintellectuals, had heard of this great king of remote times. Nabonidus felthe had to repair the statue. ‘Because of my reverence for the gods andrespect for kingship,’ he writes, ‘I summoned skilled craftsmen, and replacedthe head.’


ACTIVITY 4

Why do you thinkAssurbanipal and

Naboniduscherished earlyMesopotamian

traditions?

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Exercises

ANSWER IN BRIEF

1. Why do we say that it was not natural fertility and high levels of foodproduction that were the causes of early urbanisation?

2. Which of the following were necessary conditions and which the causes,of early urbanisation, and which would you say were the outcome of thegrowth of cities:(a) highly productive agriculture, (b) water transport, (c) the lack of metaland stone, (d) the division of labour, (e) the use of seals, (f) the militarypower of kings that made labour compulsory?

3. Why were mobile animal herders not necessarily a threat to town life?4. Why would the early temple have been much like a house?

ANSWER IN A SHORT ESSAY

5. Of the new institutions that came into being once city life had begun,which would have depended on the initiative of the king?

6. What do ancient stories tell us about the civilisation of Mesopotamia?

TIMELINE

c. 7000-6000 BCE Beginning of agriculture in the northern Mesopotamian plains

c. 5000 BCE Earliest temples in southern Mesopotamia built

c. 3200 BCE First writing in Mesopotamia

c. 3000 BCE Uruk develops into a huge city, increasing use of bronze tools

c. 2700-2500 BCE Early kings, including, possibly, the legendary ruler Gilgamesh

c. 2600 BCE Development of the cuneiform script

c. 2400 BCE Replacement of Sumerian by Akkadian

2370 BCE Sargon, king of Akkad

c. 2000 BCE Spread of cuneiform writing to Syria, Turkey and Egypt;Mari and Babylon emerge as important urban centres

c.1800 BCE Mathematical texts composed; Sumerian no longer spoken

c.1100 BCE Establishment of the Assyrian kingdom

c. 1000 BCE Use of iron

720 - 610 BCE Assyrian empire

668 - 627 BCE Rule of Assurbanipal

331 BCE Alexander conquers Bablyon

c. 1st century CE Akkadian and cuneiform remain in use

1850s Decipherment of the cuneiform script

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